Current Events Portfolio

Post navigation

Camille LaBranche Blog #4 Arizona governor vetoes anti-gay bill

Like the discrimination bill in Kansas, Arizona and a few other states voted on a bill that would allow discrimination of lgbt people in businesses based on religious beliefs. It would allow certain people to be turned away even if they aren’t what they’re perceived to be and those people can do nothing about that. The Arizona governor, Jan Brewer, though, decided to veto the bill for a few reasons, most of which seem to be economical.

Supporters of the bill argued that it would provide businesses much need religious protection but the governor debunked that argument saying that she doesn’t know of any instance in which a business’ religious freedoms were violated. And even though she also said, “Religious liberty is a core American and Arizona value — so is non-discrimination” it seems that the real reason so many including her wanted the bill vetoed is because of economic reasons.

Not only is the state undergoing a recovering economy but it is also going to be hosting the upcoming Superbowl next year and with a huge event like that, it would be harsh, in terms of money, to isolate a certain group of people and oppress them by rejecting them entrance. The government of Arizona would lose much more money than they are willing to. Had there not of been the Superbowl coming up in the state, this bill might have taken a much different route. I find it interesting this bill can’t be vetoed simply because that’s the right thing to do in terms of human rights and human nature but because it was an economically logical thing to do. Why must something as important as a human being’s rights only become an issue that needs to be solved when it hurts economically to deny those rights?

Some other states are also considering the same bill for their own laws and in Mississippi there was a unanimous vote of approval from both Democrats and Republicans to make the bill a law. So even though the Arizona managed to veto the bill before it became a law many other states are not under the same pressure economically and are willing to waste an extra few bucks in order to display the hate that they’ve managed to disguise as religious freedom.